Smith, Wolverines capitalize on early cross-country meet preparation

Tuesday

NEW CASTLE - The Lincoln High School cross-country team bus arrived some two hours before the start of Tuesday's meet against Shenango, Union and South Side.

Dustin Smith decided to invest in the time wisely.

"While coach (Mark) Hall talked to us, we had a chance to walk the course and really figured it all out," said Smith, a senior for the Wolverines.

Smith certainly did. He jumped out to an early lead en route to winning the boys' race in a time of 16:50 as Ellwood City swept past its three opponents at Flaherty Field.

The Ellwood City boys downed Shenango, 17-38, Union, 15-40, and South Side, 19-36, stretching the Wolverines' section winning streak to 43 meets in a row.

Meanwhile, the girls, behind senior Bethany Walker's first-place time of 19:11, won their 20th section meet in a row with a sweep. Walker enters her senior season as the reigning WPIAL champion in Class AA.

"It was basically a flat course and a good day to run," Walker said. "We knew as a girls' team that we didn't have our best times at the Big Red Invitational (last Saturday at West Middlesex), but we always want to get better."

"The girls knew I was a little upset last weekend, but today, they responded," Hall said. "And I held Bethany (Walker) back in the first mile, so she could work with Beth Roitz. It really helped Beth out."

For the boys, who finished ninth in the WPIAL and won their fifth section title in a row in 2006, times and finishes included: Jonathan Cortez, second, 17:37; Anthony Sainato, fourth, 18:14; Josh Larry, sixth, 18:26; and Anthony Washington, eighth, 19:01.

For the Lincoln girls, who finished fifth in the WPIAL and captured their second section title in a row last season, times and finishes were: Katie Roitz, third, 21:36; Beth Roitz, fourth, 21:54; Ashley Washington, fifth, 22:03; Alyse Washington, sixth, 22:12; Corrin Newton, 10th, 24:21; and Danielle Betz, 15th, 25:51.

This season, the Ellwood City cross-country teams will be blazing a new trail, so to speak.

The Wolverines have moved their home course to the nature trail in Ewing Park. The team has one home meet on the new layout Sept. 25. In previous seasons, Ellwood City held its home meets at Stiefel Park.

The varsity teams also added an invitational to the 2007 schedule - at Kiski Area on Oct. 13.

Clyde Fields, a seventh grader at Lincoln, won the junior high boys' race in a time of 13:41. Matthew Maielli placed seventh in a time of 17:08. Shayla Polite was seventh for the junior high girls in a time of 20:00. Meghan Maine was clocked in a time of 16:13, but ended up cutting the course short due to a mix-up.

"It was a hard course, different than the other ones I ran on (at Riverside and West Middlesex)," Fields said.

The Lincoln junior high boys and girls' teams are coached by Steve Roitz this season. While the junior high boys' squad features Fields and Maielli, the junior high girls also have outstanding potential.

Some of the junior high girls only compete on weekends because of a commitment to play seventh- and eighth-grade girls' basketball, but coaches Hall and Roitz have been pleased with the athleticism of the group thus far.

Case in point: Libby Berezniak began the scrimmages by setting a course record at Brush Creek Park. Berezniak joins a strong unit that includes Kara Sainato, Polite, Kelly Roitz, Kylee Ott, Maine and Emily Medlin.

The Lincoln cross-country teams next compete at the Slippery Rock Invitational at Cooper's Lake at 9 a.m. Saturday.

FINISHING KICKS: Ellwood City resident Lisa Walley coaches the girls' cross-country team at Union. The Scotties' Janis McGill won the junior high girls' race in a time of 14:56.